Apocalypse Now

The General 

Every heart has conflict within,

Between good and turning to sin;

Kurtz won’t come around

From his methods unsound,

And the good side does not always win.

The Mission

Your operation “doesn’t exist,”

And we are so done being pissed;

Extreme prejudice is planned:

End the Colonel’s command—

And now Captain, you are dismissed. 

Kilgore

We learn from our field benedictory,
Killing’s good (that’s not contradictory);

And it’s not Charlie’s turf,

‘Cause Charlie don’t surf!

—It all smelled like...victory.

Sampan

—Sampan, port bow: let’s say hello,

If they’re moving too fast or too slow,

—Kill ‘em all...why not?

(They’re shot on the spot.)

—I told you don’t stop. Now let's go.

Chef

You think that you’re safe while afloat,

So you focus on one simple quote;

If you like, you can yelp

(At the end it won’t help):

Never get out of the boat.

The Photojournalist

Look at this shit and its trends,

How everything ebbs and descends;

Even if you’re no whiz,

You can tell that this is

The way that the fucking world ends.

Kurtz

My perspective is clear and unsparing;

I’m immune to any more scaring.

What you call normality

Is lying morality,

And that’s why I’m far beyond caring.

Soylent Green

The Lieutenant’s Office

—Who bought you? That is my thought.

—As soon as they pay you, you’re bought.

—I’m not some dumb slob:

I won’t risk my damn job!

(Hatcher didn’t get what he sought.)

Some Foul-up at Transport

Soylent green is gone for today,

But if you continue to stay,

You’ll first be puree,

Then someone’s buffet:

The scoops are on their way.

A Visit to the Exchange

—Believe: our chances are slim;

Overwhelming evidence is grim.

—Maybe God sees what’s odd.

—Mr. Roth, what God?

Where are we going to find him?

Tasteless Odorless Crud

When I was a kid, food was food,

But dude, this shit gives me a ‘tude;

Since we’re totally screwed,

Maybe if it’s stewed,

It will taste better once it gets chewed.

In the Church

We've only one way to pig out;

Tell everyone, you’ve gotta shout

From high rise and steeple:

Solylent green is people!

—And that’s what our future’s about.

So It Goes

“...on this sunny January day, I find I just don’t give a damn....”

http://conflicteddoomer.wordpress.com/2012/01/28/and-so-it-goes/

The view of what’s coming’s less blurry,

So we’ve cut down on hurry and scurry;

Having looked at our fear,

Acceptance draws near—

And with it, a time of less worry.

So many things go on the fritz,

And in the end, everything quits;

We don’t worry our wits,

We’re not down in the pits:

It’s all good—it will hit when it hits.

==                

"So it goes."

—Kurt Vonnegut, 106 times, Slaughterhouse Five

"What's going to happen is, very soon, we're going to run out of petroleum, and everything depends on petroleum. And there go the school buses. There go the fire engines. The food trucks will come to a halt. This is the end of the world."

—KURT VONNEGUT, JR., Rolling Stone, Aug. 24, 2006

http://www.notable-quotes.com/v/vonnegut_kurt_jr.html

Into chaos we soon will be hurled

As the Holocene end is unfurled:

We have the distinction

To watch mass extinction:

This is the end of the world.

Bitch

Nature can be such a bitch:

Habitats constantly switch;

We’re part of a blip

In nature’s big trip,

And now we are losing our niche.

The Party's Over

I had a band in college. We closed every gig with this song.

(first video listed: )

http://www.wtv-zone.com/lumina/misc/videoarchive.html

The party's over

We’ve reached the end of our day

No matter how you pretend

You know it will end this way

It's time to see through

Our live’s charade

Just make your mind up

And don’t be afraid

The party's over

The candles flicker and dim

We’re peaked and long past our height

The end is in sight

The future is grim

Here comes the shakeup

All dreams must end

Now you must wake up

The party's over

It's all over my friend

Stratosphere Sulfate

Technological fix comes on strong:

Dump debris where it doesn’t belong;

With no way to repair

Yet more crap in the air,

What could possibly go wrong?

Peak Bookstores

“...I just can't imagine living in a world without bookstores. Sadly, that day is coming very soon.”

http://billhicksisdead.blogspot.com/2012/01/book-store-blues.html

Soon books won’t be what people need

To survive, let alone succeed;

While that’s pretty bad,

What’s even more sad

Is when no one will know how to read.

Nothing Either Good or Bad

“...there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”

Hamlet, II, 2, 249-250

Morality’s chattering sound,

And assignment of blame doth redound:

If we’re going to fight,

You’re wrong and I’m right,

While you think it's the other way ‘round.

Why It’s Called Fracking

Why was this name was bestowed

Upon such a gas-drilling mode?

If you take a shower,

Water's got so much power,

Your whole fracking house can explode.

Deniers

If they live in a bubble, why pop it?

It’s easier simply to drop it;

Sure, ignorance is bliss,

But how bad is this

When nothing we do will stop it?

If You Can Keep Your Head

"...when the world recognizes—widely recognizes—that there’s a problem, there’s going to be panic that takes place."

—Dr. Robert Hirsch, at 10:37 in the interview

http://www.financialsense.com/financial-sense-newshour/guest-expert/2011/12/15/robert-l-hirsch-phd/we-are-staring-directly-into-energy-storm-in-next-2-3-years

If you can keep your head

When all about you is dread,

You’re a woman or man

With a viable plan

For when panic gets really widespread.

Tell the Truth

“Tell the truth if you can. Deliberate lies will rot your brain.”
http://guymcpherson.com/2012/01/last-days-last-words/

If you’re lying with words that you’re using,

Then you’re cruising for a bruising;

Ideas you’re depicting

Will end up conflicting,

But mainly, it’s hella confusing.

Gradual Decline in Demand

“BP's latest energy outlook forecasts a growth in unconventional energy sources, "including US shale oil and gas, Canadian oil sands and Brazilian deepwater, plus a gradual decline in demand, that would see [North America] become almost totally energy self-sufficient" in two decades.”
[Emphasis mine—BtD]
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/jan/18/shale-oil-gas-us-energy-self-sufficient

Deep drilling and fracking expand

To poison the sea and the land;

What life can’t withstand

Brings extinction and

Gradual decline in demand.

Consensus Trance Sub-Trances

“... the unconscious narcissism of my first-year writing students was paralleled by the more sophisticated but still unconscious narcissism of my colleagues and of the institution itself....”

http://guymcpherson.com/2012/01/last-days-last-words/

We all have warped mental stances

Within which culture advances;

But subcultures show

That they undergo

Their own consensus sub-trances.

Our unconscious mental stance

Encloses our own little dance;

Nested within,

It adds unique spin

To complete the consensus trance.

Fracking and Noblesse Oblige

Cornell Study Links Fracking Wastewater with Mortality in Farm Animals

...In one case, an accidental release of fracking fluids into a pasture adjacent to a drilling operation resulted in 17 cows dead within an hour. Exposure to fracking fluids running onto pastures or into streams or wells also reportedly led to pregnant cows producing stillborn calves, goats exhibiting reproductive problems and other farm animals displaying similar problems. Farmers reported effects within one to three days of animals consuming errant fracking wastewater....

http://www.energybulletin.net/stories/2012-01-16/shale-gas-jan-16

The people who poison the earth

Can say what a nickel is worth,

But they haven’t a clue

What's needed to do

To sustain life and life-giving birth.

They disregard poison’s alarm,

Don’t care who or what comes to harm;

They’re part of the haves

Who don’t care about calves

Or anyone who’s on a farm.

They can’t connect eating with plows,

And couldn’t care less about cows;

The life money endows

Puts no sweat on their brows,

And they’ve nothing to do but carouse.

Nobility maintained docility,

But also increased civility;

Now it's only devour,

No more “with great power

Comes great responsibility.”

Kubler-Rossing It When People Won’t Listen

“...How do you get through to people who don’t want to hear what you have to say? You don’t, mostly....”

http://guymcpherson.com/2012/01/last-days-last-words/

When people won’t hear what you say,

You can’t believe living their way;

Then you get really pissed

At the way they resist

And try to hold bad news at bay.

In exchange for a listening friend,

You have gifts (such as jokes) to append;

When you fail at that quest,

You get feeling depressed,

And acceptance comes at the end.

More Hot Hot Hot

Nice warm days sure hit the spot

(When it’s too cold, I stay home a lot),

But the heat will increase

And then much life will cease,

'Cause it’s going to be too fucking hot.

I’m old, and I don’t know a lot,

And most things I knew, I forgot,

But one thing I know:

It will be time to go

When it gets to be too fucking hot.

We’re like frogs being boiled in a pot,

And nothing will help a whole lot:

With the mess we’ve now got,

There’s no way to do squat;

It’s going to be too fucking hot.

Happiness Return on Investment (HROI)

People measure how hard to try

By checking how much they feel high;

When the total’s too low,

Then it’s time to go,

Based on Happiness ROI. 

The Hard Part

In the course of becoming awake,

We find things we cannot remake;

Accept, from the trend,

That the world’s going to end,

And the rest is a piece of cake.

Measuring Progress Using Kubler-Ross

At times when we’re feeling glum,

K-R can maybe help some:

Reviewing our loss

Using E. Kubler-Ross

Can show us how far we have come.

Time for Reflection

Our world’s not the one we once knew,

Let alone what’s about to ensue;

Now's a good time to do

Some lifetime review

While waiting for fucko bazzoo.

Clathrates

Our air will get more CH4

As ice melts yield methane galore;

Getting the math straight,

The totaled up clathrate

Adds up to too much to ignore.

Congress Ends Ethanol Subsidies

http://billhicksisdead.blogspot.com/2012/01/finally-some-good-news-congress-ends.html#comment-form

Unexpectedly, corn did fail,

So we’re changing the rules to unveil

Our next energy sale

(This one's sure to prevail):

Now you should buy Bakken shale.

Feeling Hot Hot Hot

http://billhicksisdead.blogspot.com/2012/01/hey-senator-inhofe-it-was-67-degrees.html

We’ve worked ourselves into a spot

Where a look at the future we’ve got

Shows that feces and fans

Mean no point in big plans:

It’s going to be too fucking hot.

Danger: Thin Ice

Global warming makes ice kind of thin

So be careful that you don’t fall in;

Where you cannot cavort,

There’s still winter sport:

You can watch mass extinction begin.

You Are What You Eat

Celebrity Gossip Is Making Us Stupid

http://billhicksisdead.blogspot.com/2012/01/media-hypocrisy-porn-daily-beast-says.html#comment-form

Feeding your head right’s a feat

In which choices you make are discreet;

Your mind’s guaranteed,

But take care what you read:

Remember: you are what you eat. 

H/T: Jefferson Airplane

Kubler-Ross Bargaining to Save the World

Your bargaining stage of progression

Might be saving-the-world obsession,

But after a run

At what cannot be done,

Acceptance comes after depression.

Buddhism and Suffering

For Buddha, to live is to suffer,

And life is indeed getting rougher;

Turns out he was right:

Things already bite,

And they’re going to get a lot tougher.

Unthinkable

The “Titanic” was thought unsinkable

(The story’s online, and it’s linkable),

So you just might be sane

If your logical brain

Concludes that extinction is thinkable.

First Step

Perhaps there’s some way to express

Some adoptive approach to doom stress;

Like, it might be begun

With some kind of Step One:

"We admitted we were powerless."

New Year’s Resolution

Shun debates about cognitive maps,

Don’t waste time seeking logical gaps;

We’ll find no escape routes

From self-serving disputes:

Underlying it all is collapse.